WIS 64, between Houlton and the city of New Richmond, which is
classified as a principal arterial and part of the National Highway
System (NHS), is an important economic link between communities
located in west central Wisconsin and the Minneapolis/St. Paul
metropolitan area of Minnesota. When WIS 64 was upgraded and
expanded to a four-lane divided highway, constructed to freeway and
expressway standards, it represented a major investment in the
transportation system of western Wisconsin and St. Croix County.

Even though the current facility is and will provide adequate
mobility for some time, operational issues resulting from normal
growth along the corridor are anticipated to occur at the existing
at-grade intersections with the highway. This study, which is
independent of the Stillwater Bridge project, is a planning and
preservation project that will protect the safety and mobility of
the traveling public by identifying the necessary future
improvements and right of way needs to designate and physically
convert the facility to a freeway and expressway. These future
improvements will be local road grade separations that provide
connectivity to either side of the highway and possible parallel
local connection roads to existing interchanges with WIS 64.

The study limits are located between the St. Joseph town line
(150th Avenue) and WIS 65 in the city of New Richmond, an overall
distance of approximately 12 miles. It will consist of declaring a
nine
mile section, from the St. Joseph town line to 110th Street, as a
freeway and the remaining three mile section, from 110th Street to WIS
65, as an expressway, all under Wisconsin Statutes 84.295. From
start to finish, the study will take roughly two years to complete
and will include two main phases:

A study and Environmental Assessment (EA) phase to identify
a range of alternatives that can be evaluated for social,
cultural, and environmental impacts. A Preferred Alternative
will be identified at the conclusion of the EA.

An Official Map will be developed for the Preferred
Alternative as the last stage of the study to preserve the
needed right of way to close or convert the existing at-grade
intersections to grade-separated crossings and provide local
road connections to the existing interchanges. All stages of the
study will include public involvement and coordination with
federal, state, and local agencies.

This project is a planning and preservation effort and as such
there are no immediate plans or allocated funds for construction at
this time, in fact, the department does not foresee any improvements
to physically convert WIS 64, within the study area, to a freeway
for another 15 or more years. The focus of the study is to preserve
right of way now for anticipated improvements before development
within the corridor precludes future transportation options.

An Environmental Assessment (EA) will be completed for the
alternatives developed through the study process. The environmental
document follows rigid federal and state guidelines to ensure that a
full range of potential social, cultural, and environmental effects
are considered. The EA process will evaluate and compare the effects
of each alternative to determine which option achieves the goals of
the study with the least impacts.

The official map is a statutory tool that is available to
governments in Wisconsin as planning implementation device to
preserve transportation corridors. In Wisconsin, the Department of
Transportation can officially map future right of way needs in
association with freeway or expressway declaration under
§84.295(10). An official map can be an effective tool to limit or
prevent improvements on lands that have been designated for future
public use, thus saving additional acquisition costs thereby saving
taxpaying monies.

The greatest affect on lands will be between the village of
Somerset and the 110th Street interchange west of the city of New
Richmond. This is where the right of way needs for future
improvements will be officially mapped. West of Somerset, the
existing facility is already constructed to freeway standards and
only requires a freeway declaration and east of 110th Street WIS 64
has been constructed to expressway standards and only requires
expressway declaration.

Mailing list - If you received information in the mail, you are already included
in the study mailing list and will automatically receive future
mailings. Other opportunities to be added to the mailing list
include:

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